Arrest made in Vicious assault

January 15, 2013

Police responding to a 911 call originating from outside of a Bishop bar early Sunday morning discovered a local woman fighting for survival after being viciously beaten.
Due to the severity of her injuries, she was flown to an out-of-area hospital, where she was stabilized and later released, said Bishop Police Department Public Information Officer Katie Coffman.
Dyer, Nev. resident Rene Martinezperez, 21, was arrested for the crime. He is being held on $500,000 bail and facing felony charges that include assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, battery causing great bodily injury, false imprisonment and mayhem â which means to willfully maim or cripple a person so they are unable to defend themselves.
According to Coffman, officers initially responded to the 911 call at 1:23 a.m., having received a report of âa very upset femaleâ sitting outside of Rustyâs Saloon in Whitney Alley. When they arrived a short time later, officers found the woman âbadly injured and in need of medical attention,â Coffman said.
Symons Ambulance was dispatched to take the woman to Northern Inyo Hospital. In the interim, Coffman explained, the victim was able to give information to officers about what happened â as well as a description of the suspect, which Coffman said would play a key role in locating the man.
Based on the womanâs statement, officers were able to determine the female âhad been taken by an unknown male suspectâ who left her severely injured, Coffman said.
While the events leading up to when officers found the woman outside of the bar are still under investigation, it is believed the woman had been at a different local bar earlier in the evening Saturday and she met her attacker there for the first time. It is believed that somehow â whether willfully or by force â the woman left the bar with the suspect, ending up at an unknown location where the attack occurred.
It is unknown how the victim ended up outside of Rusty's, which, at 1:23 a.m., was preparing for closing time.
With the victim on her way to the hospital, and armed with her description of the suspect, officers and Inyo County sheriffâs deputies immediately launched a search of the area â canvassing the bar and residents throughout the East Line Street area and establishing witness contacts. The officers and deputies kept at it for four hours, Coffman said, locating and arresting Martinezperez at a residence in the 100-300 block of East Line just after 5 a.m.
He was taken into custody without incident and transported to Inyo County Jail where he is being held on $500,000 bail.
âWe had really, really good police work that night, and with the Sheriffâs Departmentâs assistance we were able to capture the suspect,â Coffman said.

(This version corrects an earlier version of the article which contained misinformation given to the Register. âEd.)